Day: May 22, 2009

Let’s talk about this fresh mozzarella for a moment. I stopped by my new neighborhood cheese counter (which is amazing) and the guy stocking the cheese asked me if he could help me find anything. I said I was looking for fresh mozzarella, and he pointed to where they sat, all bundled up.

Then he said, “We’re making it right now.” Wait what?!! Making cheese? Right now? So I cruise over to where I can see behind the counter. I see: A large, rectangular block of mozzarella cheese, a guy with his (gloved) hands submerged in a huge bowl of milky water, and a cutting board with Saran Wrap / cheese balls in progress of being bundled. It took me another moment, but then I realized that he wasn’t really “making” as much as “packaging.” Personally I don’t have anything against the fresh mozzarella in the rectangular form.

Picked up some basil (oddly, with roots on — for what purpose? To document freshness?), and made up this delish little salad at home. So pretty, so tasty. Now, if only I can work on that whole “working from home” thing. This could be every day.

Before blowing the last of my pence and pounds on the most expensive payphone phone call I’ve ever made at Heathrow Airport the other weekend, en route home, I picked up a few new foods from the airport Boots, nearly the last of which I ate for breakfast just now.

The U.K. has this ratings system on snack foods that color codes calories, fat, saturates, salt and sugars on a “green” (go for it), “yellow” (enjoy most of the time) or “red” (indulge now and again) scale, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why this nuts & seeds cereal bar received a red label. … that is, until I flipped it over. It’s completely coated in chocolate!

All of the sudden the voiceover from Gillian McKeith’s show on BBC America, “You Are What You Eat,” popped into my head, something about weighing five stone, which doesn’t mean much — I only know what a “stone” weighs in pounds in the vaguest sense and have absolutely no idea how many stones I weigh.

I think the important thing to take away from the voice that popped into my head is how the voice says the word “stone.” It’s all stretched out and low, like, stoooone. Check out the show, it’ll make you feel terrible about what you eat but great about how you look.

It was right about when I popped my last deep-fried button mushroom dunked in a deliciously garlicly aioli into my mouth that I realized I hadn’t taken one damn picture of what was just an appetizer, but (inevietably) ended up being my dinner.

All I’ve got to show for the hours at Rattle n’ Hum last night is this pic annoucing the Stone week (about which I was understandably excited), and my beer menu dated May 21, 2009, and the end of a headache.